So what do you do when you have a full schedule and you have the yukies. If you’re a Boyd you hate to miss appointments so you go anyway. For the last 2 plus weeks I’ve had a cold. I came home 3 weeks ago kind of run down from a full weekend. My life consists of lots of training of lay people in simple Friendship Evangelism techniques and how to do small groups and personal Bible studies. I typically preach Sabbath morning 1-3 times plus then I train lay people on Friday night and all Sabbath Afternoon and usually all Sunday morning until my flight is ready to return me to my home. So 3 weeks ago I did my typical whirl wind tour of Nabire. I was healthy however, there were some other stressful events on top of everything that left me sort of extra drained. I came home to a house of coughing boys. By Tuesday of that week I was in the throw’s of an upset stomach which they say is the first sign of this particular cold. By Sabbath of that week I was getting a runny nose and then all week I struggled this last week.
The challenge is I had a sermon to preach at the Abepura church which I didn’t want to cancel because after all “I only have a little cold.” Then the next day I had the first of 3 day long lay training classes for the area I live in. I didn’t want to cancel that one either because “I only have a little cold.” But my nose wouldn’t stop pouring. So off I went on my bicycle to the Doyo Baru school where 100+ lay people were coming. Water bottle strapped on and lots of tissue to blow my nose on. So while the translator was interpreting what I said I would blow and take a swig of water. But getting enough water must be harder than I think because by Monday afternoon I had a serious fever and all the signs of a Urinary Tract Infection (UTI).
Off to the nearby Hospital I went with my nurse wife. I felt like she was walking way too fast (which by the way never happens, except now). I felt like every bump in the road, which are many in Papua, was a canyon. Their lab was closed that day but they did give me a little vile to put a urine sample in. So I produced the sample and Ruth took the results to the clinic in Sentani – 20 minutes away.
Soon she returned and I had a Kidney infection and lot’s of other junk going on. After 3 days of serious anti-biotics I’m beginning to feel a slight bit better. Still had a fever yesterday afternoon.
I saw the American Nurse Practicioner at the Hill Side International School and she said, “Boy you’d better drink lots of water when you do whirl wind teaching like that.” She has prescribed that I drink 4.5 liters (more than a gallon) of water daily. I’ve always thought I was a pretty good water drinker as I’ve been drinking 3/4 gallon a day for years. But as she said, “Welcome to sweating in Papua.” She wants me to drink 2-3 glasses of hybiscuss juice per day for the next week. This juice in the tropical equivalent of cranberry juice.
With the problems and the pain that this UTI and other problems created I’m a very motivated patient. It’s very easy to accept every invitation I can possibly accept when I travel because “after all I sure hate sitting in some motel with nothing to do.” But I think I’ve got to start thinking of those times as refueling for the next appointment.
Okay! I’ve got to be honest. I hate writing about health issues because usually people give me all sorts of weird solutions that I should try and a few people even try to force these solutions on me. Because I was raised in a house full of Medical people I tend to lean toward the side of “has this been scientifically proven?” So ya’ll be easy on me with your solutions and make sure I have the scientific test results to go along with your solutions.
Part of my training seminars is to send lay people into the community to practice what I’ve been teaching. Here a man is sharing his testimony of what God did and my translator is telling me what he said. While I can understand 60-80% of what is said I still need a translator to completely put it all together. I always wear a short sleeve shirt and drink lots of water due to the hot conditions I teach in. Here you can see the sweat on my hair. Usually I’m soaking wet from sweat after most seminars. Lesson learned – Drink LOTS OF WATER and take regular bathroom breaks.
After most sermons or seminars people want photos of me. It’s an honor. I ask them in return to pray for me and pray for revival in Papua and around the world. If they put a print of me and them on their refrig they have to promise to pray for these things each time they see me and them. Also, many of the children want my autograph. So I use the opportunity while signing their paper to practice my Bahasa Indonesian. I love kids and youth and find that they are the most teachable of all of us. The rest of us have “already tried that and it didn’t work!” But kids go try it and make it work.
